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In our book The Catcher in the Rye Enigma, we observe that J.D. Salinger’s bestselling novel The Catcher in the Rye is now ‘required reading’ in most high school English courses in the US and throughout much of the Western world. This despite the fact it has been banned by various schools and libraries, and criticized by numerous parent and teacher groups as being immoral literature due to its use of profanity and themes of excessive rebellion and alienation.

Salinger’s classic novel.

We explore this in the following excerpt from (our book) The Catcher in the Rye Enigma:

The fact that The Catcher in the Rye is now required reading has inspired some conspiracy theorists – most probably of the Tinfoil Hat variety – to envisage a grand conspiracy in which mind control is being conducted on a mass scale in order to corrupt, pacify or otherwise control today’s youth.

Reclusive Guns N’ Roses lead singer Axl Rose took part in an online chat on December 12, 2008 on the GNR fan community site. When a fan asked him about a song he’d written called Catcher N’ The Rye on GNR’s new album Chinese Democracy, Axl’s responses seem to indicate he believed the theory that the novel can incite violent acts when read by certain individuals.

“For me,” he said, “the song is inspired by what’s referred to sometimes as Holden Caulfield Syndrome …I feel there’s a possibility that how the writing is structured with the thinking of the main character could somehow re-program, for lack of a better word, some who may be a bit more vulnerable, with a skewed way of thinking.”

Axl Rose…believed novel can incite violence.

Axl also mentioned he felt that the novel is “utter garbage” and said he agrees “wholeheartedly that it should be discontinued as required reading in schools”.

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Great book, Catcher in the Rye. It was required reading for one of my high school classes 35 years ago. It overuses the phrase “goddamn” the use of which even in single use is highly objectionable to Christians and Jews, as it is taking God’s name in vain.

That we ban Huckleberry Finn from schools because of the “n” word, but hold Catcher up as a paragon of literary virtue when it contains a phrase most practicing Christians feel violates sacred beliefs speaks really loudly about our government’s view of religious values.